Magnetic Lake

A freak accident and lots of pollution result in Possum Lake becoming magnetized, making life difficult for everyone – especially those wearing anything metal.

Cast (in order of appearance):, , , , , , , ,

Segments: Red's Campfire Songs, Handyman Corner, The Experts, Red's Poetry, Red's Visits with Possum Lodge Members, Adventures With Bill, Harold's Segments

DVD: Red Green: Stuffed and Mounted, Vol. 4; Red Green – The Infantile Years

DVD Commentary by Steve Smith
STEVE SMITH: We had a lot of comment on this Magnetic Lake episode. I think there's something compelling about a lake that was so polluted that you could actually magnetize it. And we were looking for some kind of an electrical effect near the end. We were up shooting in Muskoka, which is a kind of a cottage area north of Toronto, and there was a huge electrical storm. And we just, we went out– all of us, we just went out and sat down on a rock and watched this thing in the middle of the night. And the cameraman, he's already got his camera out, so he was actually taping this huge electrical storm, hitting the lake and everything, for no particular application. And later on, I realized, that would be great for the magnetic lake shot. So what we did was, we took the footage he shot of lightning hitting the lake. We slowed it down and we reversed it {begins pointing up} so the lightning looked like it was... {looking confused, starts pointing down} oh, maybe it shoulda gone that way... Anyway, it's different. So if you wanna see what we were actually looking at, then just record this yourself, and– Oh, you already have. And then just play it back backwards, which'll be forward, but you'll need to speed it up because we slowed it down. That'd be fun for ya.

Segment Summary
See also: Transcript

Plot: Red explains that there was a big thunderstorm that knocked out the power and didn't come back on when it was supposed to because Junior Singleton had cut down a power pole to use as firewood during the outage. The men of the lodge decide to use the lake as a source of electricity; the water is so acidic that it is like a battery. So they bring out car jumper cables, put them in the water and jumpstart Possum Lake. However, something goes wrong and the lake ends up magnetized. One of the first things the viewer notices affected by this situation is Harold's switcher, whose video effects act irregularly. Red and his pals decide to demagnetize the lake. Soon, Red learns that the entire area has gotten messed up by the magnetism. Among other things, the phones are humming with static and the cars are stuck to fire hydrants. Red and the guys finally come up with a way to demagnetize the lake, by making an electromagnet out of the Possum Van and hooking it up to the power grid. And it works... sort of.

Red's Campfire Song #1: Living alone in the woods.

Handyman Corner: Red makes a backyard kiddie ride out of an umbrella clothesline.

The Experts: Bob provides a viewer some ideas to entertain his nephew when he comes to visit him for the summer.

Red's Poetry (The Winter of Our Discount Tent): When Red was young, they never had fights in hockey.

Visit With Hap Shaughnessy: Red asks Hap to give him a ride into town, but he can't because his boat's motor got messed up by the magnetism. Hap is covered in aluminum foil as part of an experiment on time travel.

Red's Campfire Song #2: You will always remember your first kiss.

Adventures With Bill: Bill shows various ways to launch a boat.

Harold's Segment: Harold hosts a segment called "If I Were God".

Visit With Glen Brachston: Glen explains to Red the solution to demagnetizing the lake, which he actually hopes doesn't work, because he has gotten used to the phone not ringing.

Fun Facts
Explanations
 * Red's comment, "we have the Beta", is likely referring to the Betamax video tape standard, which competed with the more popular VHS format for a number of years.

Real-World References

 * Red and Harold refer to the TV shows The Twilight Zone and Bewitched.
 * Red's comment, "Please don't adjust your set", is similar to a portion of the intro sequence to the TV show The Outer Limits.
 * When Harold's retainer fuses with his fillings, Red's remark compares Harold's grinning appearance to that of the Terminator, and the sound of his speech to that of the Tin Woodman in The Wizard of Oz.

Famous People

 * Hap's remark about Neil Armstrong is a parody of the astronaut's famous line, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
 * Hap claims to have met Howard Hughes and Ernest Hemingway.